In the Spotlight

Introducing Carolina Goss, February’s tapper in the spotlight!

Carolina has been an active member of Young at Heart since 2012. She is one of our more experienced dancers and her extensive training always shows through. Her enthusiastic, energetic style adds a special spark to our performances. Her love of dance not only shows through on stage but also in class and she is always willing to help any other dancer that may be confused with a step. I am constantly amazed at her fantastic memory of choreography and sometimes catch myself glancing her way to check myself. I am very happy to name Carolina this month’s tapper in the spotlight. To learn more about Carolina, please read her bio below.

I was born November 27^th, 1946, the eldest of five children, in a very close-knit family. I began dancing at age six and also took singing lessons and acted in a long running play at the Trouper’s Club in Hollywood.

At age ten or eleven, we moved and found a new studio in Alhambra, owned by a Burch Mann. At age thirteen, she gave me a scholarship so that I could take character dance classes in addition to ballet. At age fifteen, my mom took me out of dance, as she felt my education was suffering. I did not dance again until the age of twenty. In the interim, I graduated high school and college, majoring in foreign languages. I also went to live in Mexico as part of a group to prepare for the Peace Corps. However, in 1967, I saw a Lorne Greene special that featured dancers and learned that Burch Mann had formed a professional company. I found out where her new studio was, borrowed my dad’s car, and the rest is history.

For the next thirteen years, I was a member of Burch Mann’s Ballet America, touring nationally, internationally, and performing on TV, including the Academy Awards in 1970 and the Bi-Centennial special in 1976, and on stages across the country.

During this time, I met and married my husband, Stephen and together we have three sons, and seven grandchildren. Also, for a brief period between dancing jobs, I sang in the C&W group, Al Perry and the Love Sisters, at a place called the J-Bar-T in Great Falls, Montana. It’s still there.

I stopped dancing in 1980 and except for teaching ballet to gymnasts for a year, never danced again.  In the years following I worked at McDonalds as a manager, and then in marketing for four of their stores. In 1988, I joined the staff at Mountain View Elementary School in Claremont where I stayed for 22 years. First in the classroom as a teacher’s aide, then as librarian and attendance clerk.

Just when I thought my dancing days were over, in 2012 I discovered The Young At Heart Tappers, and, well, you all know the rest. Outside of my family and home … tap class is my happy place!